Satellite images have picked out two new North Korean warships, the largest it has constructed in 25 years, a US think tank said today.
Recent commercial satellite pictures showed two new helicopter-carrying frigates separately berthed at shipyards in Nampo in the west and Najin in the far northeast. The think tank said it was an important “wake-up call” on the effectiveness of sanctions against Pyongyang.
The vessels can be seen in commercial satellite images from December and January. It is unclear whether the frigates are yet ready for service.
The US-Korea Institute at Johns Hopkins University, posting on its website 38 North, says the frigates are designed to carry one helicopter each and appear to be designed to counter South Korean submarines and protect fisheries. The vessels appear to be equipped with anti-submarine rocket launchers.
Launched sometime in 2011-12, the two vessels were primarily designed to counter what Pyongyang sees as a growing threat from South Korea’s acquisition of submarines that began in the early 1990s, the US-Korea Institute at Johns Hopkins University said.
But they may also be destined for a role in patrolling regional fishing zones – with security implications for South Korea, Japan and China, the institute said in an analysis on its website 38 North.